The Eagles emerged from the tunnel at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday mostly set, to the point where Tanner McKee didn't even start as the backup quarterback.
Even so, they still had a couple of battles and spots on the depth chart to further evaluate in their second preseason game against the visiting Cleveland Browns.
The final was a 22-13 Eagles' loss, but that part hardly matters. It was way more about how certain names looked in their push toward the 53-man roster.
These were the moments that stood out as the cut begins to shape up, for better and worse...
Line drive
The Eagles' defense had its moments on the game's opening drive, even though quarterback Dillion Gabriel and the Browns chipped away at them for the score.
Mainly, it was the two young linebackers.
On second down and the second play of the game, first-round rookie Jihaad Campbell had the OK to gun it straight after the QB, and blew straight past the offensive line to wrap up Gabriel for the sack and a loss of four yards.
Second-year linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was pretty active after, mostly keeping a series of quick, short-yardage plays to minimal damage. They just stacked up to get Cleveland downfield.
Still, Trotter was credited with four tackles by the time the opening drive was done, and two of them solo.
Campbell, Trotter, fellow rookie Smael Mondon Jr., and journeyman linebacker Ochuan Mathis rotated in different pairings through the first half, but from where things seem to stand, Campbell is lining up to be the other starting linebacker opposite Zack Baun in Week 1.
Trotter, though, has shown more signs this summer that he can hold his own, which should leave him able to step up in a pinch right behind them.
Pinball
The Eagles went right to their third-stringers on offense for Saturday's game, which was enough to say that you probably weren't going to get the smoothest-looking football for the next couple of hours.
Then on a 2nd and 8 near midfield during the Eagles' first drive, the pocket collapsed in on QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, he stepped up as he was getting wrapped up and tried to get a throw away in a panic.
Cleveland defensive tackle Shelby Harris batted the pass at the line to send the ball upward and backward. Eagles O-linemen Matt Pryor and Kendall Lamm then took a swipe at it to try to knock it down and kill the play. Instead, the ball bounced back up and running back A.J. Dillon caught it. He just had nowhere to go with Browns linebacker Nathaniel Watson right there to immediately make the tackle.
The play, after all of that, was ruled a completion... for a loss of 14 yards, which quickly led to a punt.
Preseason football!
Look out
Gabriel and the Browns were pushing back down into Eagles territory early in the second quarter when Gabriel rolled out to his left on a 1st and 10.
He tried to slip a pass to receiver Diontae Johnson, headed toward the near sideline in the flat, but Eagles second-round safety Andrew Mukuba made the read and cracked down quick.
Mukuba put a hand on Johnson's back to bump him slightly off his route, then once the ball left Gabriel's hand, he slipped in front to intercept the pass and take off with it.
No one was there to stop him, and the Eagles were finally on the board as Mukuba ran back the pick-six for 75 yards.
Later in the quarter, Mukuba slid down on a Cleveland run play and recovered a fumble on a dropped handoff to flip possession again. Mukuba and Sydney Brown were the Eagles' starting safeties on Saturday, and Brown led the team out of the tunnel during introductions.
Brown, more than a year removed from rehab for an ACL tear, hasn't had a particularly standout camp, but a safe enough one to have him thought of as the leading option to start next to Reed Blankenship.
Mukuba definitely helped his stock on Saturday, though – maybe enough to make the safety battle a bit more interesting.
Struck a 'Cord?
In a battle for QB3 on the Eagles' depth chart, Thompson-Robinson has looked much better than sixth-round rookie Kyle McCord through camp and the first preseason game last week against Cincinnati.
Saturday flipped the script a bit.
Thompson-Robinson, given the start, didn't look so hot, moving the ball just eight net yards through the air on 3-for-4 passing in the first half. He was sacked once for a loss of nine, and the Eagles' only source of point production while he was in throuhg most of the first two quarters was Mukuba's pick-six.
McCord checked in after Mukuba's fumble recovery late in the first half, and quickly followed up with his first touchdown pass on a nine-yard seam to depth receiver Ainias Smith for a 13-7 lead (the two-point try failed).
Thompson-Robinson and McCord went on to trade series through the second half.
Was McCord's performance on the whole enough to change the QB3 conversation? Not really, but at the same time, the day didn't exactly get any better for Thompson-Robinson either...
Ouch.
In total for Saturday, McCord went 8-for-16 on his passes for 47 yards and the lone touchdown in the second quarter. The deeper into the game he got, the more the misfires, drops, and pass breakups piled up.
Thompson-Robinson was 5-for-8 for 17 yards, no touchdowns, a sack at a loss of nine, and that interception returned for a Cleveland TD in the third quarter.
It was a mostly rough day for both of them under center, but given how far down the roster the Eagles were operating for this one, it was probably always going to go that way.
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